Seven people and five companies in New York face charges of making and selling fake versions of the anti-impotence drug, Viagra.

Defendants in China and India made the pills while others, in Nevada, Colorado, and Hongkong, sold them via the Internet to distributors, according to Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. Undercover agents bought more than 25,000 pills for US$38,000 (C$58,000) after saying they wanted to retail the bogus version, he said.

Viagra, made in Brooklyn exclusively by the Pfizer Corp, costs about US$10 (C$15) per each pill retail. The fakes, with Pfizer's name on one side and the dosage on the other, sold for a low of 50 US cents a pill to more than US$6 a pill if intermediaries and brokers were involved.

The fakes contained Viagra's active ingredient sildenafil citrate but in inconsistent strengths, said Morgenthau.

The drugs were smuggled into the United States in stereo speakers and gutted stuffed toys, he alleged. His office had begun the 17-month inquiry in January 2001 after a complaint from Pfizer and it had led to manufacturers in China and India.

Among those arrested were the Chinese manager of Tianjin Shuaike Chemicals, Winhway Lee, and the export director for Benzo Chemical Industries of Bombay, Girish Vishwanath.

Both were held after arriving in New York to discuss deals with undercover agents.

Meanwhile, scores of Indian firms with allegedly dubious credentials are said to be churning out medicines that claim to cure a host of diseases and heighten virility as they cash in on the herbal fad and Viagra fever.

Touted as 'wonder drugs', they are sold at one-fourth the cost of Viagra.

Most of these drugs are boldly labelled 'double action', and are claimed to be based on the ancient Indian System of Medicine (ISM), called Ayurveda, that specialises in herbal cure.

Take for instance the herbal capsules named '4U', which the producers claim is guaranteed 'to give desired pleasure in your married life' besides healing genital disorders.

They also promise that the drugs do not give any 'side-effects or hormonal imbalance'. Many others carry similar catch phrases. The basic ingredient of most of these drugs is shilajit, a herb which is the Indian avatar of ginseng. Another key herb is ashwagandha, a cure for most diseases according to ancient Indian medical texts.

According to market surveys, these supposedly sex-boosting drugs in India have spun into a US$10 million (C$15 million) industry over the past two years.

They are off-loaded in states such as Manipur, Mizoram, West Bengal and Maharashtra, where HIV and AIDS cases are high. These medicines are snapped up quickly because of their low prices.

A standard packet containing 10 capsules range between US$2 and US$3.50, while syrup bottles cost around US$3 each. These, pharmacists say, work out much cheaper for people with waning libido. A Viagra pill would cost more than US$10. 'We are scrutinising these drugs,' said Dr C. H. Chandramani, director of health services in Manipur.

"There is no knowing if they are really ayurvedic in nature, or if they contain allopathic steroids punishable by law."

Manipur has the highest percentage of HIV and AIDS patients in India. Last year's data revealed that the state had more than 37,000 HIV/ AIDS cases in a population of some 3.4 million.

'What's alarming is that these drugs are readily available in medicine stores, and the firms selling them target smaller vernacular dailies to advertise their products,' said Dr Debajit Borthakur, a leading doctor of medicine in Assam, India. Admitting the Indian government's failure in verifying the curative powers of these drugs and regulating their sale, Health Minister Bhumidhar Barman said: "There is possibly very little we can do, but we believe only an awareness campaign can help reduce dependence on these drugs."

Women's groups like the Meira Paibi (Torch bearers) of Manipur are campaigning against such magic drugs. In Switzerland recently, experts said fake pharmaceutical drugs kill untold numbers in developing countries each year and now pose an increasing risk for rich nations as a result of expanded trade and organized crime, spurred on by globalization. "The risk of counterfeited drugs coming into the European Union and the United States in the future is increasing," Harvey Bale, secretary-general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations.

Fake drugs constitute a growing problem worldwide that governments have ignored "for far too long," Bale said.

The easing of border measures and expansion of free-trade accords, Bale said, "raise enormous risks for drug suppliers."

The spread of counterfeit drugs "is a global problem and on the rise," Erik Madsen, a criminal intelligence officer with Interpol.

In a lot of countries, however, Madsen said, "this in not considered a priority area by law enforcement agencies in comparison with homicide and robberies. This attitude needs to change."

The absence of funds, skilled personnel and facilities such as testing laboratories, further burdens enforcement efforts in poor countries, he added. Fake drugs are a problem of public safety and health and consumers need to be informed and convinced, noted Madsen.

"They are not like (pirated) CD-ROM's"people die." He cited a 1995 incident in which fake meningitis vaccine killed about 2,500 people in Nigeria. In that same year, a counterfeit cough syrup made from anti-freeze killed 89 in Haiti.

In December 2001, a counterfeit seizure in Colombia found that some vitamins and antihistamine pills were made from dyed cement, Tom Kubic, director of the Virginia-based industry watchdog Pharmaceutical Security Institute, told UPI.

Likewise, an article in the British Medical Journal, "Murder by Fake Drugs," reported notorious examples including meningoccal vaccine made of tap water, ampicillin consisting of the spice turmeric, contraceptive pills made of flour, and anti-malarials and antibiotics that contained no active ingredients. "Mortality and morbidity arising from this murderous trade are considerable," the article said.

Professor Lembit Rago, responsible for drugs data at the World Health Organization, said that between January 1999 and October 2000 WHO received 46 entries from 20 member countries, of which 60 percent came from poor and 40 percent from developed countries. Rago said the most common counterfeit medications in poor countries were antibiotics, anti-TB drugs, anti-malarials and painkillers, while in rich countries it is a spectrum of new drugs such as immunosuppressors used in transplants and hormonals or "gym drugs" used by bodybuilders.

Fake anti-malarial drugs are a major problem in Vietnam and Cambodia, while up to 50 percent of drugs sold in Nigeria are counterfeit, the experts said. China and India are considered the most significant counterfeit drug producing and exporting centers, they said. Some counterfeit drugs include products stolen from manufacturers or products recalled by manufacturers.

To counteract counterfeiting efforts, manufacturers have increased the use of holograms and watermarks, and they constantly change product bar codes and even the color of the pills. But even these precautions "can be counterfeited," Bale said.

Recognizing the problem, the industry has decided to take a more proactive stance in partnership with governments and international agencies such as the WHO, Interpol and the World Customs Organization, among others.

Currently surveys and investigations are under way in Eastern Europe and Mexico, and more are expected to be conducted in Asia and Latin America.

An industry-sponsored one-year survey in the Philippines, which included purchases in hundreds of drug stores, found that 8 percent of the drugs were counterfeit and 11 percent of the drug stores were dealing in counterfeit pharmaceuticals.